CHAMPAIGN — Each time the Illinois basketball team cut Michigan State’s lead under double digits and the sellout crowd at State Farm Center started to work itself into a frenzy, they were silenced by the Spartans.

When Michigan State took control of the game in the second half, a vocal Spartans portion of the crowd filled the arena with their “Go Green, Go White” chants.

Michigan State defeated Illinois 78-62 Saturday because the Illini could not match the size, athleticism and skill of the fourth-ranked Spartans. Gary Harris paced the Spartans with 23 points on just nine field goal attempts, while Keith Appling and Denzel Valentine each scored 15. Michigan State (17-1 overall, 6-0 in the Big Ten Conference) shot 55.8 percent and out-rebounded Illinois 38-25.

“We ran into a really, really, really good basketball team that played well and took advantage of some mistakes we made,” said Illini coach John Groce.

This marks the fourth consecutive loss for Illinois (13-6, 2-4) with the end seemingly not in sight. Three of the Illini’s next four opponents are ranked and the other is a road game against Indiana.

During the game, Groce was visibly upset with the officiating, screaming expletives all night. He finally received a technical foul with 1:39 remaining when he took off his jacket and threw it at the bench, yelling for the officials to call an illegal screen. One of his assistant coaches tried to hold him back, but Groce pushed him out of the way.

“I feel bad for the officials,” said Michigan State coach Tom Izzo. “I’m still not in favor of what we’ve done (in terms of cracking down on physical play). Everybody is confused. It’s hard on everybody.”

Saturday seemed like the day for upsets around the Big Ten, where Northwestern went on the road to beat Indiana, and Michigan stunned third-ranked Wisconsin in Madison.

Coming into the game, Illinois had won three in a row here against the Spartans and seven of the last nine meetings overall. However, this year’s team needs to play near perfectly to compete with teams the caliber of the Spartans.

The Illini continued to struggle on offense. Tracy Abrams led the team with 15 points but shot just 3 of 11 from the field, while Rayvonte Rice scored 12 but shot just 5 for 15. Nnanna Egwu did not score for the second consecutive game; Joseph Bertrand, the team’s third leading scorer, did not score until more than 29 minutes into the game and finished with just four points.

“I’ve got a lot of confidence in both of those guys that they can play better,” Groce said. “They have played better, but they got to kind of hang in there and figure it out.”

Page 2 of 2 - The Illini did get some valuable minutes from some of their freshmen, Kendrick Nunn (29) Malcolm Hill (13) and Maverick Morgan (16) all of whom played one of their best games.

Groce emphasized rebounding to his team leading up to this game, especially after the Illini were out-rebounded 23-7 in the second half of Wednesday’s loss against Purdue.

The Spartans had their way on the glass in the first half, dominating the rebounding battle 24-10, that helped catapult them to 35-25 lead at the half. This all came without one the help of one of the Spartans best big men, forward Adreian Payne, who missed his third straight game with a sprained foot that has him in a walking boot. Payne is averaging 16.2 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.

The four-game losing streak matches the longest in Groce’s career, and fans are starting to grow restless. Many in the sellout crowd did not stay until the end of the game.

“It’s a long season,” said Abrams. “We aren’t going to get too high, too low on ourselves. We’re just going to keep grinding.”